The Wide World.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 4, 27 July 1910, Page 6

The Wide World.

IMPERIAL. THE Imperial Parliament is now finished its brief session, and will go into recess until the autumn. On the second reading of the Approprition Bill Mr Balfour warned Mr Asquith that Canada was negotiating with other countries and was compelled gradually to diminish her preferential advantage to the Motherland. Mr Asquith said the Government would welcome intra-Im-perial freetrade, but that was impossible while the dominions protected their own industries. Cheap food and raw material were essential to Britain. The usual mission to the Powers announcing the accession of King George has ben dispatched from London, Lord Northampton being at its head. To the French Republic King George, through Lord Northampton, intimated that he would never forget the numerous proofs of friendship and affection his father had received from the French, for whom he had so much sympathy. He added that he himself was animated by the same feelings, and it would be a keen satisfaction to him to see the entente, cordiale continued and increased. President Fallieres replied that no effort would be spared to maintain and strengthen the entente.

At was anticipated, Mr Asquith’s proposed amendment has aroused some opposition, the Scottish M.P.’s in particular objecting to any alteration which will alter the sense of the existing oath ■however desirous of removing words which give offence to Catholics. The Nonconformist Committee in the House have resolved not to support the declaration unless the words “as by law established” are deleted. The naval manoeuvres have ended. After a huge cordon had surrounded the “enemy” the latter were defeated, losing sixteen battleships. All the cruisers were destroyed, together with several transports. The British loss was thirteen battleships and several destroyers. At Bisley the King’s Prize, the rifle championship of tht Empire was won by Corporal F. Radice, an undergraduate of Oxford University. He had won the silver medal for the highest score in the second stage of the match, and he now shares with Major Pollock the honour of being the only competitors to win both gold and silver medals.

An extraordinary wave of crime is reported from England, with several Continental emulators. A youth named Harold Eastbury, living at Newcastle-on-Tyne, cut his sister’s throat, and then shot his father. The wound to his sister was fatal, but his father was not seriously injured, and is now recovering. The murderer has been arrested. A man named Salisbury, residing at Galgate, near Lancaster, attempted to strangle a woman named Mrs Bainbridge. Failing in this, he forced her to swallow' poison, and then committed suicide by drowning himself in a canal. Mrs Bainbridge recovered. Wildon Anderson, a London actor, was shot dead in his flat at Battersea. The murderer escaped by scaling a garden wall. The bodies of Albert Edward Gunn, a London contractor, and his wife, were found shot in a bedroom in the Cromer hotel. A revolver was in Mrs Gunn’s right hand, and the indications were that she had shot her husband while he was sleeping. A man named ,Wm. Broome has been committed for trial at Slough on the charge of murdering a neighbour, Mrs Wilson, whom he suffocated. The pursuit of Hawley Crippen, the Camdentown murderer, is still resultless. The Moros at Walawan attempted to assassinate Mr Worcester, Secretary of the Interior, at the Philippines, but were prevented by his bodyguard, who shot three of the natives dead. Vincenzo Nieari, a well-known Sicilian professor, was fatally stabbed in broad daylight in a crowded street in Palermo. The murderer escaped in the crowd. Professor Fiore, of Turin, and his sister were murdered after a struggle in a lonely country house in the vicinity of Turin. The murderers escaped. A case of gelignite, used in the East Deep Mine, Transvaal, for blasting purposes, suddenly' exploded, when fifteen natives

CABLE NEWS IN BRIEF.

were killed on the spot, while eightynine others, including thirteen whites, were so badly injured that they had. to be conveyed to the hospital. Another, explosion occurred in the breech of a twelve-inch gun at the shore batteries, Fort Monroe, Virginia. The charge ignited prematurely, and ten were killed outright, two others were so seriously injured that there is little hope of their recovery, and five others were badl”’ hurt. FOREIGN. Many German newspapers resent the attempt to saddle the publie with the responsibility of rejecting the British overtures, and allege that the programme is enforced by .war parties, whose ambition it is to hold supremacy on land and sea. Germany would resist dictation as to her armaments, but it is very different when the greatest sea Power extends her hand with a view to the limitation of armaments. During a storm 12 workmen at Kollitwurtz, in Silesa, were struck by lightning and killed. General Viscount Teranchi, Minister for War. speaking at Tokio, said Japan did not intend to employ the mailed fist in Korea, or be antagonistic to the foreign Powers, but radical changes in the system of government in Korea were necessary. THE COMMONWEALTH. A dreadful railway disaster occurred at Richmond, a suburb of Melbourne, on Monday. The disaster was caused by a. train from Brighton, which had been delayed owing to a dense fog, being run into by an Elsternwick train, just as the former was moving out of the station The Elsternwick train, travelling at a considerable speed, smashed into the rear of the outgoing train, cutting through the guard’s van into the firstclass carriage next to it. and other carriages were telescoped. Nine passengers were killed and over a hundred injured, the sufferings of these being harrowing, while they were being cut out of the debris. At a meeting of the City Bank, the chairman pointed out that if the Federal note issue became law the bank’s fund would be diminished to the extent of the existing note issue, and they would also require a further amount of gold 1 or Government notes, to replace the unissued notes. This would add considerably to the cost of upkeep and lessen profits.

A fierce south-easterly gale was experienced in New South Wales during the week. Heavy damage was done ashore, a number of buildings being unroofed and wrecked. Two lives were lost ifl| Sydney harbour.